BY CARRIE N. BAKER | On Sept. 7, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher ruled that the state’s 1931 abortion ban violates the Michigan Constitution because it “would deprive pregnant women of their right to bodily integrity and autonomy, and the equal protection of the law.” Gleicher issued a permanent injunction blocking Michigan’s anti-abortion prosecutors from enforcing the law.
“This is a historic victory for patients and providers in Michigan who have been forced to live under the threat of an archaic criminal abortion ban since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “By permanently blocking the 1931 law criminalizing abortion, Michigan’s Court of Claims has protected the continuity of care that Michiganders have enjoyed for nearly half a century and ensured that no overzealous prosecutor can come between a patient, their provider, and their health care.”
Planned Parenthood of Michigan and its chief medical operating officer Dr. Sarah Wallett filed the lawsuit challenging the abortion ban in April against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. On May 17, Gleicher entered a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the law until a hearing on the merits. Nessel, who has stated she will not enforce Michigan’s abortion ban should it take effect, did not appeal the preliminary injunction.
The Republican-controlled Michigan House and Senate then intervened as defendants in the lawsuit, arguing that abortion was a “medically unnecessary procedure.” The ban made all forms of abortion a felony and had no exceptions for life or health of the patient, nor for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
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